Board Votes to Shift 7 Schools in Valley to All-Year Plan

The Los Angeles Board of Education voted Monday to convert seven San Fernando Valley elementary schools to a year-round schedule to increase classroom space in the crowded district in 1988.

The board also voted to ask the superintendent to develop proposals to reopen four schools in the district--three for student instruction and one for use by district personnel.

Implementation of the board decision to convert the schools to year-round schedules will hinge on a vote by parents at each of the seven schools.

Parents will be asked to decide if they want their school to go to such a schedule or remain on the current September-June calendar and be closed to new students. If parents of children enrolled in the school choose to stay with the September-June school year, students who would ordinarily be new to a school would be bused to a less-crowded campus. Siblings of students already enrolled in their local school could be bused if classes are full.

Increasing the Valley year-round schools from 13 to 20 was part of a far-reaching plan approved by the board that, in 1989, might lead to the entire Los Angeles Unified School District changing from a September-through-June school year to a 12-month school calendar.

Staggered Vacations

On a year-round schedule, some students attend school during the summer, and all students take short vacations at different times of the year.

Monday’s decisions replace a series of recommendations presented to the board last month that called for nearly 150 Valley schools to go to a year-round schedule.

Those proposals stirred opposition from Valley parents who said students will not be able to study during hot summers in classrooms without air conditioning. Parents also said there are not enough day-care facilities, baby sitters and activities for youngsters on vacation during non-summer months.

Board members said they listened closely to the parents’ complaints. But by a 4-3 vote, the board decided that beginning July 1, 1988, it wants 14 district schools, including the seven in the Valley, with the most severe crowding problems to change to a multitrack, year-round schedule.

West Valley representative Julie Korenstein, Leticia Quezada and Board President Rita Walters voted against the plan.

Valley schools designated by the board to go to the 12-month calendar are: Arminta Street Elementary in North Hollywood; Broadous Elementary in Pacoima; Dyer Street Elementary in Sylmar; Hazeltine Avenue Elementary in Van Nuys, Langdon Avenue Elementary in Sepulveda; Noble Avenue Elementary in Sepulveda; and Sharp Avenue Elementary in Pacoima.

Under a multitrack system, all students assigned to a school are divided into groups, with at least one group on vacation at a given time. This enables the school to increase the number of students it can instruct during 12 months.

Korenstein said she could not support changing any school to the 12-month schedule as long as schools remain closed by the district. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the district closed 23 district schools--19 of them in the Valley--to save money.

Korenstein said reopened schools could provide space for students from surrounding neighborhoods and from overcrowded schools.

In a 4-3 vote, the board directed the superintendent to develop the proposals to reopen the four schools. Board members Jackie Goldberg, Quezada, and Walters voted against that measure. That report is scheduled to be presented to the board in November.